Education

UC Riverside Students Can’t Handle Abortion Foes, DEMAND TRIGGER WARNINGS

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The student government at the University of California, Riverside passed a resolution last week demanding that the administration send campus-wide emails alerting students any time their hypersensitive feelings might be offended by an anti-abortion demonstration.

Particularly at issue are demonstrations by Students for Life and similar groups, reports the Highlander, the UCR student rag.

Several student organizations have long condemned anti-abortion groups for exercising free speech on the taxpayer-funded campus.

Promoters of the resolution seek emailed “trigger warnings,” which would advise the comfortable, largely middle-class students at UCR about the possibility of viewing imagery or hearing words that might offend them or cause them to suffer post-traumatic stress.

UCR student council member Summer Shafer introduced the resolution. It asks administrators at the public school to warn all 21,300 students at the school via email whenever “Students for Life, or any other organization that fosters a similar environment, such as the Center for Bioethical Reform, will be present.” (VIDEO: Watch This Unhinged Bully Stomp All Over Pro-Life Signs At Ohio State)

Shafer’s resolution specifically describes a Nov. 6 Students for Life display as “emotionally triggering” and “not conducive to a positive academic environment.” (VIDEO: How To Stop A Crazed Abortion Enthusiast On The Warpath)

According to her Facebook page, Shafer is a retail specialist at Forever 21. She used to work at Abercrombie & Fitch. “[W]orking as hard as I can to make a positive change has always been important to me,” reads the text next to a photo of Shafer reading “Vote Summer Shafer.”

UCR student council president pro tem Devin Plazo backed the resolution. “We’re not asking these groups to not come on campus,” Plazo said, according to the Highlander. “We’re just asking that a warning be sent out.”

Jim Sandoval, UCR’s vice chancellor of student affairs, observed that a public university might not want to appear to denounce certain student speech before it occurs. (RELATED: Pro-Life Student Group Sues Oklahoma State University Over First Amendment Rights)

“The university is always very careful to refrain from communications related to any expressions of speech on campus,” Sandoval argued, according to the student newspaper.

When the UCR student council unanimously passed the resolution, though, Sandoval promised that administrators would do their “best to get a letter out to the student body.”

The issue of “trigger warnings” appears to have strongly taken root at campuses in the University of California system.

In March, Mireille Miller-Young, a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara who specializes in queer theory and pornography, went on a video-recorded rampage. She and a posse of students stole and destroyed a pro-life poster. She attacked and caused minor injuries to 16-year-old protester Thrin Short. (RELATED: Video of Feminist Professor Attacking 16-Year-Old Anti-Abortion Foe)

Previously, Miller-Young who was pregnant at the time of the attack, defended her actions, claiming the graphic pictures of aborted babies upset her. (RELATED: Feminist Professor Claims ‘Moral Right’ To Attack Teenage Abortion Foe) 

She later copped a plea. (RELATED: UCSB Professor Mireille Miller-Young Sentenced to Three Years Probation After Attack On Protestors)

Last week, an anti-abortion group filed a civil lawsuit against Miller-Young. (RELATED: Feminist Professor Who Attacked Pro-Life Protesters Now Hit With Civil Lawsuit)

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Eric Owens